Fellowship of the Flock
by Minerakf
Summary: When Elrond finds six children who have somehow sneaked in Rivendell, and they join in on the quest to destroy the ring of power, will they be friends, or enemies? What if the children had secrets, secrets that could tear apart the fellowship? And what if... these children... had wings?
1. Concerning Worm-holes and Elves

Okay, so I'm quite brain-dead on my other stories, they just aren't that appealing to be anymore, so I'm going to take a good break from them, and write something I've been dreaming about writing for ages, but have had to summon up a lot of guts to get going on it. Because now... I'm going to be writing... A Lord of the Rings and Maximum Ride fan fiction. In the Lord of the Rings world. OMG this is going to be tough, considering I'll have to re-read the books as I write. Ugh. Forgive me if I'm not too descriptive and all. Let's just say that I tried.

 **Manwe:**

Manwe sighed as he looked over the council members, all fidgeting restlessly in their seats. Every eye was on him, and they all looked nervous about what he was going to say. He knew why they were giving him those confused stares though. And he probably deserved them.

"What did you do again? " asked Ulmo, pressing his fingers to his temples.

"I accidently brought humans from a place I do not know of. I was performing my usual spell for calming a storm, a particularly vicious tornado headed straight for Rivendell. I have destroy the tornado, but at the very end of the spell, a large fly of sorts happened to fly into my eye, causing me to lose focus, and the spell went completely out of control."

"You...brought... humans from another dimension?!" cried Varda in exasperation. Many others were shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Well, maybe we could make the best of this.. Are they skilled with weapons? Can they help escort the ring to Mordor? " said Ulmo carefully.

"Ulmo, my dear friend, they are children..." said Manwe.

"Children from another dimension..." muttered Aule, who proceeded to sigh deeply.

"But... they are indeed...skilled..."

"Children who can fight? How is this so?" murmured Varda quietly, but loud enough to be clearly heard by Manwe and Ulmo.

Manwe gulped, and then said, "Well, I know what your response will be, but, well... These children all have...wings..."

And indeed, Manwe predicted correctly their reactions to the startling news. Ulmo screeched, and fell out of his chair with a heavy _thump._ Varda gasped and nearly passed out. Aule's eyes widened, and he threw his hands up in exasperation.

"What are we to do now?!" he cried.

"Well, it seems we will just have to watch and wait," said Varda tentatively. Manwe nodded, and mumbled weakly, "Council dismissed."

 **Max:**

 **"** So, we've rescued my mom, what now?" I said, my powerful wings working overtime to keep me and Akila aloft at the same time. Geez, that dog was heavy...

"I dunno..." muttered Fang. "Hang out?" asked Nudge enthusiastically.

"Yeah. I guess we can get some peace and quiet now..." I said. But I spoke too soon, because not three seconds after I spoke the words, a humming noise pierced the silence. It was coming from my left, over near Gazzy, Iggy, and Angel.

"Um, Gazzy, is that the silly string bomb we made? If it is, I'm out of here," said Iggy.

"Silly string bomb?!" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the juvenile bomb experts.

"Yeah, it explodes, and covers everything in a twenty foot radius in silly strings. But to answer Iggy's question, no, it's not the silly string bomb. I made it so you have to enter a key to activate it. And the key is in a different pocket. I don't know what that humming noise is,"

"Oh, so THAT'S why you stole the lock to that filing cabinet on the submarine!" barked Total.

"Say WHAT?!" I cried. Gazzy and Iggy flinched.

"Sorry Max..." muttered Gazzy.

"I really don't think you are..." I muttered under my breath.

"Guilty..." chuckled Fang, as Gazzy turned bright red.

The humming had gotten louder now. I wondered what the heck it was. We stopped flying, and hovered in one place, listening.

"You sure it's not one of your other bombs?" I asked.

"Yeah, positive,"

And then out of nowhere, the humming increased to a roar and the sky split open. Like literally, a black tear appeared in the middle of the air, about the size of a car, and it sucked in a cloud instantly. I felt it sucking, trying to pull me in.

"Run!" I cried, and Gazzy immediately corrected me, "You mean fly?"

"NOT helping!" I cried, struggling against the fierce winds of the spiraling vortex. And then, with a loud screech, I saw Angel get sucked into the black hole thing, and she vanished.

"Angel!" I screamed, and I gave up trying to get away. The vortex's meal had made it stronger than ever, and with loud screams, we were all sucked back into the black pit.

The second I hit it, I felt like my limbs were being taken apart and rearranged into a jumbled mess. My stomach was tied into knots, and my head felt like it was being stretched.

I tried to scream, but no sound came out, and then, it was over. I was on my hands and knees in the grass, panting hard.

I looked around me, and to my relief, all of my flock members were sprawled around me, gasping and sweating. Nudge was green in the face, and she ran off and retched behind a bush.

When she returned, she was shaky, and dizzy, and her speech was very slurred, "Wha wahs thet?"

"I have no freaking idea... But it wasn't fun, that's for sure..."

We were in the forest, on an incline, like we were on some sort of mountain. How the heck had we gotten here? Was that like, a teleporting thing? Was this something the whitecoats had cooked up?

"Should we fly, and find out where we are?" asked Gazzy quietly.

"Nah, keep your wings tucked in," I muttered.

I crept through the underbrush, and soon, we came upon a stone path. Up ahead, I could see white marble glinting in the sunlight. We walked on, and when we reached the marble, I realized that the woods ended here, and I could see the sky in all directions. And what I saw amazed me.

We were in some sort of palace, with soaring marble arches, and gleaming courtyards. Huge white domes spread across the massive expanse of cobble paths. And just to our left, the mountain soared down steeply, and I saw that we were standing on a raised platform, clinging to the mountain. There were people in the distance, milling about, and I realized they were wearing strange, flowing white and gray clothing.

"Wow... Just... Wow..." muttered Nudge, her mouth hanging open.

We walked cautiously down the path that went under pure white arches covered in blooming honeysuckle, and colorful flowers that gave off a entrancing perfume.

I saw Angel picking a honeysuckle flower, and eating it. She chewed on it for a second, then made a face, and spat it out in disgust. I laughed, as she tried to rub pollen off of her tongue, "You're not supposed to EAT it. Here, watch."

I showed her how to take the stem thing out of the flower, and get the tasty nectar. Yum!

And so we went, picking the ripest honeysuckles, and generally having a good time, until we turned a corner, and I ran straight into someone.

We both fell to the floor, in a tangled mess. I picked myself up, and brushed the leaves off of my jeans. It was a man, but I'd never seen a man like this before. He had high arched eyebrows, and strangely wise, and old looking eyes. They made him look like he'd seen the universe being created, and was still here to tell about it. Yet he still looked only in his forties. He looked extremely graceful, and as he stood up, glaring pointedly at me, I realized that he was wearing weird, flowing clothes that were pure white, and some sort of sparkly headband thing. Also, he had weird, extremely pointy ears.

"It's Mr. Spock the Angel!" cried Gazzy, snickering.

"Shut up Gazzy..." I muttered.

The man was looking very confusedly at us. Guess he didn't know who Spock was. Either that, or we weren't supposed to be here. Which, I guess, we weren't.

"Children, what brings you hither?" the man said, and Fang snorted loudly. Angel and Nudge giggled. I just managed to hold in the laughter that threatened to burst out.

"Who the heck says 'hither' anymore?!" Gazzy choked, between laughs. The man stared at us, astonished. I had no idea what was going on here.

"Who are you, and why do you mock me? Where have you arrived from, and what is your purpose here? Surely six children have no business in Rivendell," he said calmly, but his eyes glowed like fire. This guy was weird, and he scared me, so I decided to tell the truth. Part of it at least.

"Dude, I don't know what the heck we're doing here. We literally just got here. We kind of... stumbled across this palace place while we were on a walk in the woods."

"On a walk in the woods? For what purpose? And how did you persuade the guards to let you in?" he asked, glaring ferociously at us.

"Guards?" I asked, before realizing that I had just made us sound like we had snuck in. Great going Max, ya big doofus.

The man took a long look at us, like he was inspecting us, then said quietly, "It is impossible to get into Rivendell without going past guards, unless you rode the eagles of course, but then our archers would spot you. So would you like to try again?" His voice was deadly quiet. What was I going to say? Geez, I mean, I could say, "Oh yeah, we magically appeared within your stupid Rivendell borders in a teleporting vortex thing. Sorry for intruding. Can we go now?" but he'd probably just call the police, and then what would we do. I was about to tell the flock to give up on the hidden wings plan, and fly for it, but I decided that would be a bad idea, considering what the crazy dude had said.

"Archers? You have freaking archers? Dude, get with the modern time period, I mean geez... Is this some kind of reenactment?"

"Re-en-act-ment?" asked the queer man, pronouncing the word carefully, like he was tasting it on his tongue. He frowned, and said, "You men talk strangely. Has Bree truly changed that much since I visited?"

"What the heck is Bree? And HELLO! Do I look like a MAN to you?" Gazzy stifled a snigger, and the corner of Fang's mouth twitched at little.

"I was not saying that you are a man, child. I was merely indicating that you are of mankind."

"Oh, like you aren't?" I said snidely, rolling my eyes at this weirdo.

"Of course not! How could you possibly mistake me for a man?!" cried the not-man in astonishment.

"If you're not a human, what are you?" I sneered, and Nudge said, "OOH! Busted!"

"Shut it Nudge." I muttered.

The not-man ignored us, and said quietly, "I am an elf, of course."

"Sure you are..." I muttered, but as I said it, I realized that's why he looked so graceful, and young even though his eyes had that wise look to them, and why, duh!, he had pointy ears.

"An elf..." I repeated slowly. "Why am I getting the feeling we aren't on the same planet anymore?"

"I dunno... I doubt the air would be this clean ANYwhere on earth though. Haven't you smelled it. It's like, so fresh here!" babbled Total. The elf's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open.

"Your beast talks!" he cried fearfully.

Total growled, and barked loudly, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?! A BEAST! I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT ONE!" The little dog lunged at the elf, but before he even got close to him, the elf had pulled out a sword and sliced off the tips of Total's ears. Only the fur, thankfully. Even so, Total yelped, and started screeched about how he was going to die.

"Total, he gave you a haircut..." I muttered, rolling my eyes. But still, that sword was freaking scary. It gave out an un-earthly glow, and had strange symbols down the blade. The hilt was filigreed, and engraved, and who knows what else. The edges of the blade were wicked sharp.

The elf put the sword back into a sheath hidden in the folds of his robes, and pulled out a small horn. He gave it a blow, and the most deafening sound came out of the tiny thing.

AHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The sound echoed around the courtyards, and almost immediately, three elves came running around the corner, bows and swords drawn. They surrounded us, and before we could react, five more arrived. They back us into a wall, and tied our hands together behind our backs. We didn't protest. This wasn't like Erasers or M-Geeks, who only had their fists, or sometimes a gun. Every single elf had a wickedly sharp sword hanging at his waist, and every single one of them was probably highly trained. Add that to the fact that we were outnumbered nine to six, and they had us backed into a corner that was too tight to take off in.

The elf muttered something to one of the other elves, in another language. We were escorted down the halls and came upon an area with doors lining the hallway. There was one every twenty feet or so.

Just as an elf unlocked a door, and was about to push us into the room, three tiny guys, the tallest of whom just came to my shoulder, came racing down the hallway. Each of them was wearing old fashioned clothes, and had curly brown hair. They were laughing and jumping, and I noticed that they wore no shoes, and had immensely hairy feet. What the heck?

Behind them followed a tall man with dark brown hair that had just been combed, and was wearing even weirder clothes. He had a sword hanging at his waist. When he noticed us, his eyes widened, and he looked questioningly at the three elves escorting us.

They had a rapid conversation in elvish or whatever they called it, and Aragorn frowned deeply, and studied us.

"Children..." he sniffed, "The first to penetrate Rivendell's guard without being seen... How ironic..."

One of the elves shrugged, and said something in elvish, as I had deemed it. Hey, I could have called it Elfish, so don't complain. Maybe that was what the language was called. Who knew.

Then, as the elves pushed us into the room, unbound us, and locked the door, realization dawned on me. And, how embarrassing, well, I fainted.

When I came to, I was lying on a comfy white bed, with the others sitting on their own beds scattered around a large, cozy room. This was our prison cell? The very idea that we were being kept prisoner in this luxurious room was so stupid I laughed out loud. Fang looked at me like I'd gone insane. And then I realized, I probably had. I shouldn't be laughing. Because I had figured out where we were. We were in a freaking book.


	2. We're Almost Late for a Council Meeting

Thanks for the review, Dark Lord Herobrine. Yes, it does have lots of potential for chaos. All I have to say is, DUH, DUH, DAAAAAAAH! And of course, enjoy!

 **Max:**

I gasped, and nearly passed out again. This couldn't be real. This must be a dream. We were probably still in the Navy headquarters, sleeping soundly in our beds. I almost pinched myself to see if it was real, when I realized that would make me look like I was going nuts. But I think I had the right to be going nuts. We were in a freaking book! A made up story, by a dude named J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings. Oh god, what had happened?!

I had only read a part of the first book, and then it got lost in the general clutter of the house. I was cursing myself for not looking harder for it. Now I only knew what was going to happen up until the thing in the water attacked the fellowship, and snatched Frodo, the hobbit dude, the one with the ring that made you invisible.

Then, I realized, if Frodo was being visited by Merry, Pippin, and Sam, that meant, the council meeting was in two days. But wait... How long had I been out?

"Fang, how long have I been out for?" I muttered.

"Almost two whole days. Why?"

"Oh god, we're going to be late!" I said, checking my watch. 9:30. I think the council meeting was at like ten, or something close to that. Maybe 11. We had an hour max, to break out of here, and find the council meeting, all without being spotted.

I almost considered demanding to be let out, and saying that I knew what the ring was, but I figured that would start our relationships with the fellowship on a bad note.

"Late for what?!" asked Nudge, startled.

"Yeah, we're locked in here, in case you haven't noticed..." muttered Fang darkly.

"When has that ever stopped us?" said Angel.

"That's my girl!" I said, ruffling my grinning little baby's hair.

 _Max! I'm not your baby!_

I smiled at her, and then frowned again. Should I tell my flock members what I had figured out? Yeah, definitely no question about that one.

"Hey guys..." I started.

"Yeah?" asked Iggy eagerly. "Do you know where we are?" he prompted.

"As a matter of fact, that's why I passed out..." I muttered.

"More like fainted!" snorted Gazzy.

"Shut up," I grunted, causing a round of sniggers from the flock. I rolled my eyes, and said, "Okay, this might be a little bit startling, but yeah, um... How to put it? Um... Well... We may kind of be... in a book..." I managed.

"WHAT?!" cried everyone simultaneously. "Yeah, you know, the one with all the movie trailer a couple years ago? For the third movie? With that one dude, the one we saw earlier..."

The flock members gasped, finally realizing where they had seen the man before. Because the actor that played Aragorn... Looked identical to the real Aragorn... What the heck?!

"OMG! Are we really in Lord of the Rings?!" cried Nudge, and I remembered that she had been reading the book at the same time as me, so we were at the same place.

"WOW! Legolas is such a hottie! I can't wait to meet him!" she squealed.

I rolled my eyes, "Seriously, Nudge? He's over 500 years old."

"So?! He looks like 17!"

"Nooot reaaalllly..." I muttered.

"Whatever Max," said Nudge. "So are we going to find the secret council that we're not invited to?"

"Precisely what I was thinking, since it might have already started!"

The others were staring at us, having no clue what was going on at all. I gave them a brief overview of the Hobbit, and the part of the Lord of the Rings that I had read.

"Okay, sounds like we do need to go to that council meeting. We have to beat the game to get out of here!" exclaimed Gazzy

"Um... Not exactly how I was going to put it, but yeah, that's what I was thinking too," I said, chuckling.

"Um, can't we just use the window?" Total barked.

"Oh, duh. I'm a bird-brain. Come on."

Luckily for us, the window opened, so I didn't have to bust through it. That would make a lot of noise, alerting the guards, who could possibly catch a glimpse of us flying. I lifted the window, we leapt out, one by one. I did my best to close the window again, and we glided to the ground, almost two stories below.

We crept through the halls carefully, for a good half hour, and finally, to my relief, we heard many voices arguing around the next corner.

"We've found it!" whispered Nudge excitedly. "We're not too late!"

We listened carefully to the people talking. "Can't you think of some names now? Or put it off until after dinner?" someone said.

Then Frodo squeaked, in the tiniest of voices, "I will take the ring, though I do not know the way..."

We peeked around the corner to see the same elf dude who I had run into, who I now realized was Elrond, how embarrassing, glancing pointedly at the little hobbit.

"If I understand aright all that I have heard, I think that this task is appointed to you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is a heavy burden. But if you take it freely, I will say your choice is right, and your seat shall be among the mighty elf-friends of old."

Suddenly, one of the other hobbits, Sam I think, burst from a shadowy corner where he had been hiding.

"But you surely won't send him off alone, master?!" he cried.

"No indeed" said the elf, smiling. "You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to secret council and you are not."

The hobbit blushed bright red to the tips of his ears, and sat down beside Frodo, shaking his head and muttering, "A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo."

And that's when something happened that surprised and scared me. The book was already unraveling. Because in the book, Merry and Pippin never snuck into the council...

The two hobbits leapt from inside empty pots, and cried out in harmony, "We're coming with you!"

"We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will!" cried Pippin

"You have to tie us up and carry us home in sacks to stop us!" cried Merry.

"There must be someone with intelligence in the party!"

Gandalf burst into hearty laughter, and cried, "Then you will certainly not be chosen, Peregrin Took!"

Luckily, Gazzy's snort was not heard because everyone else was laughing. Or at least I though it wasn't. But apparently Elrond had very good ears.

"Who's there?" he said, peering down the hallway where our heads had just been peeking out, watching the council meeting. Then the voice spoke in my head:

 ** _Reveal yourselves. You must earn trust, and join the fellowship._**

I really didn't want to, but I stepped out from behind the corner, revealing myself to the startled people in the courtyard.

"How long have you been listening?" Elrond seethed. "Tell me, children, are you spies of Sauron?"

"Oh no, no, no, haha, spies of Sauron, good one!" said Nudge, popping out from behind me. Gazzy and Iggy jumped out from behind the wall, shouting "Tada!" and Fang walked out, Angel in tow, and sighed heavily.

"Do not underestimate us. We know many things. We know who the hobbits are. That's Merry, And that's Pippin. That's Sam, and Frodo, and Bilbo," I said, pointing at each of the hobbits in turn.

Every person, elf and dwarf ogled us, mouths open.

"Also, that's Legolas Greenleaf, of the wood elves, and that is Galadriel, there's Gandalf, Boramir, Aragorn, also known as Strider, and of course, who could forget, Gimli, son of Gloin,"

Everyone was in absolute shock. I was thoroughly enjoying this. Of course, the Voice had to be annoying, and ruin my pleasure.

 ** _Are you sure that what you are doing is wise?_**

"Anyways, please continue your debating, oh wise council!" Fang said, plopping down beside Sam, who yelped, and scooted five feet away from him, shoving Frodo into Bilbo, who knocked over Pippin and Merry.

"Oi! Watch it!" cried Pippin, pushing Merry off of him.

"Who are you children?" said Gandalf at last. People all over the room were glaring daggers at us. Then Angel spoke, "Hey, no need to freak out, we're friendly, and we just want to help."

Everyone sighed at once, and relaxed. Angel winked at me, and I sighed. My adorable little 7 year old, brainwashing entire rooms of people.

"So, this brings us to the matter of who to escort the hobbits to their destination." said Elrond.

"Where are we going again?" asked Pippin, and people sniggered. He looked around, confused, to everyone's amusement. Nobody bothered to answer the dorky hobbit.

"I will come, for better or for worse," said Boramir out of the sniggers.

Aragorn stood up silently, "You have my sword."

"And my bow," said Legolas.

"And my axe," added Gimli.

"And our awesome kick-butt ninja parkour skills," Gazzy chimed in.

The whole flock burst into laughter at the faces of the middle-earthians. They probably hadn't gotten a thing Gazzy had said.

" Are you saying you wish to come with us?" asked Legolas, in absolute shock.

"Well duh..." I muttered.

"You are merely children, spies or no! This is a very dangerous quest, meant for men, not young _women_!" Boramir glared at her pointedly.

"Yeah deadly smeadly, faced it all before, been there, done that, lived to tell the tale." Nudge babbled.

"Yeah, what she said," I sighed. "Also, that was just sexist, okay?"

Boramir shrugged, "The only place for women is in the kitchens."

I gave him my wolf stare, and he just scowled at me.

Everyone looked at Elrond for advice. He shrugged and addressed Boramir, "If these younglings are so foolish as to wish for an early death, so be it. You will need all the help you can get. But I fully expect the six will be back here within three days time."

I snorted. How little they knew. My flock members were probably the safest ones on the quest, considering we could fly to safety at a moment's notice. I shuddered. Not in the Mines of Moria though. And even worse, I didn't know if anything was going to happen down there. But I had a pretty good feeling there was going to be something major. Otherwise, the book would get really boring, walking endlessly through the dark and all.


	3. Blind Kids, Shooting Arrows

Thanks for the support everyone. Also, check out my other stories! They are just as amazing, and are way further along! LOL! Enjoy! :D

"So, can we go now?" asked Fang. I looked startled at him. If they said yes...Oh god... This didn't happen. They stayed almost a month before they went off adventuring. If we left now, that could change the outcome, and there might not be a happily ever after. And we wouldn't get home, more than likely.

To my horror, Legolas smiled at Fang, and said, "I do not see why we should tarry. Time is precious if we are to win this fight. The Ringwraiths only grow in power each passing day. I agree with this boy. We should leave as quickly as possible. I thank you for your hospitality in offering us a longer stay, my friend, Elrond, but I wish to leave at the latest, noon, today.

"We must pack though!" cried Frodo in anguish.

"If we were to pack everything you wished to bring, my dear hobbit, the horses would not make it but seven paces," said Gandalf, chuckling to himself.

"Geez, and to think I wanted to bring a sweater, so that my furry behind wouldn't freeze off," announced Total, completely forgetting we were surrounded by strangers.

Everyone gasped in shock, and Total and muttered, "Um... Don't mind me! Just a dog here! Woof! Woof!"

"Oh yeah. That's Total. He can talk."

"I see..." mumbled Legolas, with wide eyes. The dwarf Gimli had fallen backwards off the bench in shock. He hauled himself up, with a good deal of struggling, and patted down his beard," A talking hound? This day just gets stranger and stranger..."

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME A HOUND?!" cried Total. He growled angrily, and was about to make a go at the dwarf, but I grabbed him by his scruff, and held him fast.

"Lemme Go!" he barked.

"He didn't know better Total." I said, sighing.

"Alright, but he better not do it again, or I'll turn HIM into hound CHOW"

I rolled my eyes at the silly dog, and plopped him on the ground beside me. He sniffed, like he had been horribly insulted, and lay there sulking.

Once again, the whole council was staring at us in shock. They shook themselves out of it, and pretended like nothing had happened. The council continued for a good half an hour more, discussing routes to take, and boring stuff like that. I zoned out, and finally, the lunch bell rang. Great. I was ABSOLUTELY FREAKING STARVING TO DEATH HERE! I hadn't eaten in two days. Normally, I couldn't manage for two hours. When the elves presented us a table full of every food imaginable, I was in heaven.

Immediately, I grabbed three buttery rolls and snarfed them down. I looked around for milk, because I needed that good ol' calcium for strong healthy bones. Just kidding. I just like milk. They didn't seem to have any, but they did have cheese. I ate a huge wedge of cheese. Then I hacked off half of a chicken from a platter, and chopped it up. Not quite a hamburger, but close enough. Everyone, especially the good mannered elves, who ate with dainty fingers, and only picked up small grapes, bread and cheese, stared as I wolfed down the entire thing, burped, and ladled myself some mashed potatoes. When I finished those, I put my hands behind my head, sighed with relief, and propped my feet up on the table. Yep, I've never been one for good manners. Angel giggled. She had already eaten four rolls, a quarter of a chicken, and was starting in on a bowl of soup. Fang had eaten a whole chicken already, and had three ladlefuls of mashed potatoes. He was currently rinsing everything down with a cup of water.

Finally, once the whole flock was done eating, we were escorted to the armory by some elves, who were casting distrusting glances at us.

"Have you ever wielded a weapon before, children?" asked one.

"No, unless you count a baseball bat as a weapon. It can be pretty deadly," I chuckled.

"Baseball bat?" asked the elf confusedly.

"Never mind."

I preferred fighting with my fists, but I got two small daggers. I guess I could use them to punch-stab things. Fang got a sword, that seemed very well balanced in his hand. He gave it a test swing, and a faint smile spread across his face. I grinned at him, "It suits you."

I didn't really want to give my other flock mates weapons, but they had to be able to protect themselves from armored offenders. Orcs were not quite the same as Erasers.

"Can I have a bow?" asked Iggy. I gaped at him. A bow? How could he possibly shoot something when he couldn't even see it?!"

"Iggy, your blind!"

"So?"

The elves stared at him, just now realizing why his eyes had that milky white color to them.

"Fine, you can try," I mumbled, with a strong feeling that I was going to regret this. Five minutes later, the flock, Legolas, and Gandalf were in an empty courtyard. Iggy had a bow and arrow, and was about shoot a target.

"Okay, I'm going to shoot now!" Iggy said, and everyone took cover. With a twang, Iggy's arrow sailed from the bow, and impaled itself in the very center of the target.

"Beginners luck?" asked Legolas weakly.

I laughed, and handed Iggy another arrow. Gandalf spun Iggy around three times, and he shot. _Twang! Thwack!_

Bulls-eye again...And again... And again... We decided it wasn't beginner's luck after all.

"How are you doing that?!" cried Gazzy.

"I guess I can just sense the target..." muttered Iggy, obviously baffled at his newly found talent.

I decided to let Gazzy use a big hammer. It wasn't like he had never used a hammer before. I also reasoned that he couldn't cut himself with a hammer. That didn't help if he dropped it on his toes though.

Nudge begged me to let her use a sword. She settled for a long curved knife-sword thing. It was the length of a short sword, but the blade was only slightly longer than your average kitchen knife. It had a really long hilt, and she loved the swirly designs in the leather hilt.

Angel begged me to let her find a good weapon in the armory, but I wasn't about to let a seven year old have a knife. She could have brainwashed me, I suppose, but she didn't. She watched sullenly as the elves locked the room. Instead an hour later, when everyone was packed, she marched outside carrying a crudely fashioned spear, made from what appeared to be a metal stair rail.

"Angel!" I scolded.

"Gazzy lent me his hammer, so I stuck it in the fire, and made my own spear!" she said, beaming proudly. I couldn't stay mad at her when she was so cute.

"Oh fine. I guess you being armed is better than nothing. How about we get you a better weapon?"

She chucked down her makeshift spear, and jumped for joy.

"Yippee!" she cried, "You're the best, Max!" I rolled my eyes, and took her to the armory. She immediately went for a sword, but I was like, "No way Josiah!" She settled for a better spear. I guess I could handle that. It was only pointy on the very tip. Not much chance slicing yourself unless you tried to wield it backwards. I was more concerned about her impaling someone who got in her way.

An hour and a half later, the fellowship was gathered just outside of Rivendell. That's when I saw the mountains, far in the distance. They were ten times taller than the hill Rivendell was on. Oh right... the Misty Mountains. I'd forgotten just how far they were going to have to walk to get to Mordor. And we certainly couldn't reveal our wings. I was half tempted to steal the ring from Frodo, fly it to the volcano, and be done with it. Then a voice spoke in my head, but it wasn't _the_ Voice. It was the voice of a wise old man, and it radiated power.

 _That won't work child. Though you are not easily corruptible, the ring will affect you more than others. You are from a different world, and it will tug at your lifeline. Do not attempt it._

 _Who are you?_ , I thought back at my mind's intruder .

The voice didn't answer me. Go figure...

"How shall we cross the mountains?" Frodo asked Gandalf quietly.

"It is for Dimrill Dale that we are making. If we climb the pass that is called the Redhorn Gate, under the far side of Caradhras, we shall come down by the Dimrill Stair into the deep vale of the Dwarves," replied Gandalf solemnly.

"Can you say that again, this time in English please?" said Iggy. I rolled my eyes at the blind bird-kid. "I'm rolling my eyes, Ig," I told him. The Fellowship gave us strange glances, but kept to their own business. We continued to walk through the forests all day long. It was the most boring thin R! Like, I could be to Mordor already.

My legs were stiff and sore by the time we finished walking. Well, at least this wasn't as bad as when the whitecoats made us run this far on that foul treadmill. God, they had made me do the dreaded endurance test almost ten times now. Granted, that wasn't nearly as bad as the pain spectrum test, where they cut into you with knives until you passed out.

Every one of the flock still had scars from those tests. Thankfully, the majority of the scars were on our bellies and backs, so as long as we kept our shirts on, we were fine.


	4. In Which I Ruin Faces

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Aragorn started to set up camp. He got out food the elves had packed for us. He was looking concernedly at us and the Hobbits. I remembered that Hobbits had two breakfasts. They still didn't inhale as much as we did. I realized just how starved we were going to be on this quest.

And I was indeed correct. Or so I thought. Aragorn handed out bread and cheese, and some unknown meat. I only got two tiny loaves of bread, a tiny slice of cheese and a tiny chunk of meat. It was even worse for Angel, who only got a couple bites of meat, and a roll.

"We can't live on this!" cried Gazzy irritably.

"Yes, we can, and we will. You've gone for ten days straight without food, and limited water before, and you didn't die. None of us did. I think you can live through meager rations."

The fellowship eyed us strangely yet again. Legolas cleared his throat. I glanced over at him, wondering how long of a speech he was going to give to us. But he asked meekly, "From what loathsome place do you come where it is common not to feed children for such a length of time?!"

I figured it could do no harm to tell the truth, since he wouldn't know what I was talking about anyways.

"Well, we come from a place called America. It's um... over the ocean. We traveled here to help you guys. To answer your question, it wasn't in America that we weren't being fed. It was by a small group of evil people who took us from our parents when we were very young, and treated us badly. We finally escaped, and were free for several years. Now we're here."

"I... I see..." muttered Legolas, blinking rapidly like he was going to cry.

Suddenly, Gandalf's hand locked onto my shoulders like a vise. He steered me off, everyone else too busy eating to notice that I was being kidnapped. I decided not to fight him, since he WAS a wizard after all. The old man pulled me behind the brush, and spun me around so that I was looking directly into his piercing eyes.

"Who are you, and why do you want the ring?" he growled menacingly. I was almost scared by this dude, but I forced myself to glare back at him with the same intensity.

"I don't want the ring. I just want to help!"

"Can you mold minds like the little one?" he snarled.

How did he know?! Did he know our other secrets? Did he know we had... Suddenly, I felt an uninvited presence that had invaded my brain. I furrowed my brow, and pictured walls coming up around my mind, protecting my thoughts from the probing. Gandalf's eyes widened, and he let go of me.

"How is this? You are but a child!" he cried, frustration in his eyes.

I allowed myself a smirk, and said, "Everyone has secrets that they don't wish to be seen."

"It is indeed so! But you cannot hide all of your secrets from me. I will know if you are a spy, and for the safety of the Fellowship, I will cast you out in disgrace!"

"Geez man, calm down!" I said. "We're not spies. We just are... unique."

"Unique indeed. I understand you have dreadful secrets, secrets you do not want me to see. But before you turned me out of your mind, I glimpsed a strange man, with wolf features, and many people with harsh eyes, wearing long white robes. And the last image is most puzzling to me. It was simply a light brown feather, floating in the wind. Would you care to explain that to me?"

I didn't answer, only glared daggers at the crinkly old wizard who dared invade my privacy.

He finally slumped down, sighing, and released me. I stomped back to camp in a huff.

Boromir was attempting to teach the hobbits how to use knives. He looked pretty frustrated, especially when one of the hobbits almost impaled his foot when he dropped the knife.

''Come over here girl," he said, scowling. I trudged over, drawing one of my knives, and getting a feel for the balance. Boramir showed me some knife-man-ship or whatever it was called. He had me practice them, but I kind of sucked at most of the positions. The only one I was remotely good at was the thrust, because it was very close to a punch.

"As I suspected. You are not trained. You should not be on this quest. You are young and inexperienced, and you are a girl!"

Anger roared in my head, drowning out all other sounds.

"OKAY, THAT'S IT!" I roared in Boramir's startled face. "YOU ARE A FREAKING SEXIST PIG! AND NOBODY, I REPEAT, NOBODY, CALLS ME INEXPERIENCED! YOU ARE GOING _DOWN!_ "

Boramir got over his shock, and snorted, "That'll happen when Frodo becomes king of Gondor."

"OH NO, IT'LL HAPPEN NOW!" I screamed, throwing my knife to the forest floor, and leaping on Boramir. I had him down on the ground unarmed, and was punching the living crap out of his face before he could even blink.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gandalf had to pry me off of Boramir, who now was missing several teeth, had two black eyes, and a broken, bloody nose. He was crying like a little baby, and whimpering something along the lines of "I want my mommy!"

I smirked, satisfied. He deserved to be taught his place. Nobody insults ME and get away with it.

A little while later, he sat down on the opposite side of the fire, beside Legolas, who had used healing magic to realign his nose. Legolas looked wiped. I felt sorry for the elf, who would be twice as exhausted as everyone else come tommorrow.

He was glaring daggers at me, and I smirked at him, "Don't beat yourself up about it. You had it coming for you. No regular person could beat me in a fight."

"No regular person?" asked Aragorn, confusedly.

"What about an elf?" inquired Legolas.

"Nope. But I still doubt you could beat me."

Legolas obviously took that as a challenge. He sprang upon me so fast I could hardly register his movements. He was as fast as Omega, but I somehow doubted he had eye coordination problems.

Luckily, being me, I was speedy too. I rolled under him, and he growled as his hands closed on empty air. I sprinted and grabbed the nearest tree branch. I was going to use it to vault over him, so I was facing his back, but somehow, the branch became less sturdy, and I tumbled to the ground. Oh right. Legolas was a wood elf. The trees obeyed him a little. In an instant, Legolas was on me. But though he was fast, and had a bit of tree magic, he couldn't do hand to hand combat worth a hoot. Still, he was extremely hard to hit. He dodged almost every punch I threw at him. Then, I had an idea. Sure, he might have seen punches. But I doubted he had ever seen my signature move.

Before I could deliver a roundhouse kick to the elf, I had an even better idea. If I somehow missed, he would know how to avoid it later on. I couldn't miss. So I did something that guaranteed me not to miss.

I collapsed to the ground on my back, making my eyes roll back in my head. Legolas looked at me in shock, and deep concern. I could vaguely see him leaning down over me, reaching for my wrist to check my pulse. Then I sprung into action.

Launching myself to my feet, I gave Legolas a good punch to the face, and twisting my body to gain maximum momentum, I threw my whole body into the roundhouse kick.

Legolas fell to the ground, clutching his head, a big bruise starting to form on his normally angelic face. Everyone except the flock was staring at me in shock and horror.

"Trickery!" cried Legolas, still clutching his head and rolling around on the ground.

"That was very indecent of you!" cried Aragorn, eyes wide, still astonished that I had roundhouse kicked the prince of the elves.

"Yeah, bla bla bla. I don't play by the rules." I said, scowling.

"Ow..." muttered Legolas, picking himself up and staggering off to his bedroll.

"Now, have you got something to say to me?" I asked, not really asking.

"We are sorry we underestimated you Max," said Gandalf, who was smiling ever so slightly and had a twinkle in his eyes.


	5. Why the Fellowship Didn't Get Snowshoes

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 **Max:**

By lunch the next day, we had made it to the mountains. They loomed menacingly above us, as if saying "GO BACK!" I stuck my tongue out at them, and walked on. We turned right, and followed the mountain for several days. By then, I was about ready to kill someone. It was so infuriating, knowing that I could just fly over the mountains in fifteen, twenty minute, but I had to walk days on end to get to some stupid pass that I knew wouldn't work.

Gee, I couldn't wait to freeze my butt off trudging through snow while Legolas just walked on top of it. Suddenly, I had an idea. There might be a way we could get out of going through the Mines of Moria. Screw the book, it was already messed up! These guys didn't know what a snowshoe even was! I could craft make-shift snowshoes for everyone, and then, _Voila_ , we arrive months earlier, and squash Sauron before he can even get an army together! GENIUS! I WAS A GENIUS!

Then, my hopes and dreams fell burning to the ground, crashing and breaking into millions of tiny pieces. Because I had forgotten a key point. Snowshoes couldn't protect the fellowship from falling rocks. Ugh. Why did nothing ever go my way?! Of course, the Voice had to pitch in about that:

 ** _Calm, Max. The story does not like to be altered. Already, it has adjusted to make up for your early departure. Sauron knows that powerful new enemies have entered this world, and he has tripled his efforts to stop the fellowship. This task will be harder than you imagine, and indeed, you must follow through, or you will never get home._**

 _Who said I even wanted to go back? Maybe I want to stay here and live with the elves!_ I said snidely.

There was no reply. Naturally...

The news the Voice had told me was extremely worrying. God, it was already bad enough in the book! Triple that many orcs? We were dead meat! I wanted to just curl up in a hole and forget about the ring, and middle earth, and all this fictional junk. This was all a book! Fiction! All of this was Fiction!

But a tiny part of me was thinking, "Or was it?" I squashed that uncertainty into little bits.

This is some dumb test rigged by whitecoats, or Mr. Chu, or some other villainous scientist we needed to wipe out, at least, as soon as we escaped the book.

Finally, after three days of non-stop walking, with only little breaks to rest and eat, we arrived at the mountain pass.

I helped set up camp, and sat down by the hobbits, who were squatting, using flint and steel to create sparks, and trying unsuccessfully to turn those sparks into fire.

Sam cursed and threw the flint and steel to the ground.

"How's these rocks going to make a fire? Doesn't make sense, if you ask me."

"We didn't" I said grumpily, because it was starting to get chilly out, and I was hungry.

Gandalf was about to light the fire for them, when I decided it was time to introduce them the lovely invention we call a LIGHTER. Gazzy had loads of those in his backpack, which he insisted on taking everywhere. I was glad he did, because it had first aid stuff, lighters, a flashlight (not that we really need one unless it's pitch black), and toilet paper for doing your business in the wilderness. Of course, Gazzy had added loads of gizmos and gadget into the pack as well, for quick and easy bomb production. With all those chemicals, powders, and wires jumbled together, it was a wonder the thing hadn't already blown us all to bits.

"Gazzy, lighter please?" I grumbled, holding out my hand.

Gazzy grinned, "I thought you'd never ask." He dropped a pocket lighter into my palm, and I held it up for everyone to see.

"What might that be?" asked Gandalf, walking over, eying the lighter as if it might be a bomb that was about to explode.

"Ay, that's what I was about to ask!" cried Pippin staring at the metal lighter.

"This, my friends, is what we call a lighter," I said, flicking the cap open.

They stared at me, not impressed. "Well, wot's it do?" asked Merry, scratching at his ear.

I didn't bother answering them. I just spun the little wheel, and a flicker of flame appeared.

Every single member of the fellowship gasped in shock and stumbled away, except for Gandalf and Legolas. Even high and mighty, heir to the throne of Gondor, Aragorn couldn't hide his shock. He opened and closed his mouth several times, blinking rapidly.

"Sorcery!" cried Sam fearfully, shielding his eyes like the tiny bit of light was hurting them.

"Nah, pretty much the same as your flint and steel, just positioned over a much easier to light fuel. It's called kerosene!" explained Gazzy.

"Oi, much easier to light! And it last much longer too!" said Pippin, kicking away the flint and steel.

I leaned down to light the fire, and then stopped when I heard Pippin mutter, "Merry, look at that cloud. Does it look funny to you?"

Aragorn looked up and shrugged, "It's just a cloud Pippin."

But I knew better. Partially because I had read the book, partially because I could clearly see that it was a flock of birds. That's one of the perks of being a bird-kid: you have raptor vision.

Of course, elves have good vision too... Legolas spotted the flock of spy-birds a few seconds after I did, and he whispered something in elvish to Aragorn. Aragorn frowned and peered closer at the birds, then fear entered his eyes. He grabbed Merry and Pippin and pulled them down into the brush, and hissed, "Everyone down! Lie flat and still!"

We complied, of course. The birds flew over, and eerily, they were absolutely silent. They were supposed to be spies, but still... They didn't seem to notice us, and flew on. We stayed in the brush for a good fifteen minutes after they left. Finally Legolas whispered, "It is safe now," and everyone sighed in relief.

We took up our packs, and sent, well tried to send Bill, the pony from Bree, back to Rivendell. But the pony refused to budge, so we finally had to consent and let the stubborn thing come with us.

When we had climbed up half the mountain it seemed, we finally got to the pass that was supposed to keep us from climbing the mountains. And, even better, it was buried in snow. Course, I already knew that was coming. And of course, Legolas had to be a butt and hop nimbly on top of the snow, and scout ahead a little. I think he was just looking for an excuse to show how light he was though.

And so we trudged through the mounds of snow in the mountains. Falling boulders flew over our heads, and once, Fang saved Boramir from being smashed by a particularly large one. I seethed in rage when he didn't thank Fang at all, just grumbled about being tackled. What a butt!

I had almost forgotten about Frodo, when Gazzy said, "Hey, where'd Frodo go?" Everyone looked around, and then panicked.


	6. Of Fruits and Vines

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"Mr. Frodo? Oh Mr. Frodo I'm sorry for not paying attention, please forgive old Sam for losing you!"

I felt a twinge of pity for the gardener hobbit, because I knew exactly where Frodo was. He was in that mound of snow piled against the cliff-face. You could barely see where the hobbit had collapsed, the snow falling down to hide him. I was about to pretend that I had seen him lying there, because he had to be getting some serious frost-bite by now, but to my relief, Boramir was called to his part in the book. A muffled "Geroff of me! I'm sleeping!" came from the snow pile when Boramir stepped on it.

Boramir jerked back in shock, then pulled the half dead hobbit out of the snow-bank. Frodo blinked sleepily, and it was obvious he had hypothermia. We needed to get somewhere warm, and fast. I racked my brain, trying to remember what happened next. Oh right. The fire drink stuff. The flask of magical drink was passed around, and finally Gazzy handed it to me. Thank goodness, because I was freeeeeezing!

Finally we gave up, shouting reproachfully at the mountain as we wearily trudged away in defeat. The wind howled and snow still battered us from every side as we left. "Enough, enough!" Gimli cried. "We are departing as quickly as we may!" I almost snorted. Not really. We could fly out of this mess in two seconds.

 _Max, how could we fly in this storm?_ Angel reminded me. I just turned away with a sigh, and continued pushing my way back through the snow that had piled up while we were resting.

Finally, we got to the bottom of the mountain and pretty much passed out from cold and exhaustion. Oh, how good it felt to cuddle up in the bedroll with Angel, sharing our body heat. I ruffled her hair affectionately, and she smiled in her sleep. "Sweet dreams Angel," I murmured, and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next morning dawned cold and clear. The sky was the palest shade of blue, with not a cloud to be seen. The air was crisp and clean, and I sighed. Nowhere on earth was this clean and fresh. This world was untainted by pollution, untouched by men. Well, technically it DID have men, but they were a whole lot less of polluting jerks. Everyone but me was up and had eaten already. I scowled. Why had nobody woken me? Of course, I had insisted on being in the front of the fellowship when we were wading through the snow, to carve a path with my strength. I guess they felt that I deserved a good long rest.

I walked over, just as Frodo announced solemnly, "Then we must go on, if there is a way."

"There is a way that we may attempt," said Gandalf, "I thought of it from the beginning, when I first considered this journey that we should try it. But it is not a pleasant way, and I have not spoken of it to the Company before. Aragorn was against it, until the pass over the mountains had at least been tried."

"If it is a worse road than the Redhorn Gate, then it must be evil indeed," said Merry weakly.

"The road that I speak of leads to the Mines of Moria" continued Gandalf darkly. Gimli looked up eagerly, his longing to get there very evident. From what I had read, I had already guessed that they were going to find lots of dead dwarves in there. Okay I'm not that good, Nudge had read a bit further than me, and had recently warned everyone about the death we were going to find in there, the army of orc, the cave troll, and the Balrog, and Gandalf falling to his death. I stared sadly at the old wizard. It was hard, knowing that someone was going to die, but you couldn't prevent it. I COULD prevent it, but it would mess up the story big time, and probably screw up middle earth for good. It had to happen. The rest of the flock sadly agreed.

The Company continued to talk about how VERY EVIL Moria was, and wanted to avoid that place at any cost, and I silently agreed. Even if I didn't know what was coming down there, I was still scared out of my mind, going into a place with no air, no escape. Every single member of the flock was highly claustrophobic. Being kept in cages your whole childhood kind of does that to a person. The long dark of Moria gave me shivers just thinking about it.

We walked a bit longer, till we reached the lake where I knew the mutant octopus thing resided. I was tempted to just slip into the water, and beat the living crap out of the thing's face before Boramir woke it up. Then I had an great idea. I could just distract Boramir, and ta-da, he wouldn't get bored, throw the rock and wake up the monster. And nobody would be suspicious of anything. PERFECT!

"There are the Walls of Moria,' said Gandalf, pointing across the water. `And there the Gate stood once upon a time, the Elven Door at the end of the road from Hollin by which we have come. But this way is blocked. None of the Company, I guess, will wish to swim in this gloomy water at the end of the day. It has an unwholesome look."

"No dip Sherlock," I muttered, staring at the ink black sludge that had mist rising from it in small wisps, carrying along with it a foul smell. I nearly gagged. I almost felt bad for the watcher. If I had to live in that stinking cesspool, I would be pretty grumpy too.

"We must find a way round the northern edge," said Gimli. "The first thing for the Company to do is to climb up by the main path and see where that will lead us. Even if there were no lake, we could not get our baggage-pony up this stair."

"But in any case we cannot take the poor beast into the Mines," said Gandalf. "The road under the mountains is a dark road, and there are places narrow and steep which he cannot tread, even if we can."

"Poor old Bill! " said Frodo. "I had not thought of that. And poor Sam! I wonder what he will say? "

I knew exact what Sam would say: "Bill would follow Mr. Frodo into a Dragon's den if I led him!" Yeah right. Hate to break it to you, but as soon as that horse saw the dragon, it would be out of there. Luckily for us, we weren't to be encountering any dragons in here. No, far worse. A Balrog, which according to Nudge, was massive, made of fire and rock, with giant wings, and a flaming sword and whip. Oh and it was almost impossible to kill. I would take a dragon over that any day.

We finally found the doors and went through the whole, SPEAK FRIEND AND ENTER thing. Gandalf kept calling out random things in Elvish at the door. I knew the answer was the Elvish word for friend, but I didn't want to ask Gandalf what the word was, for fear that he would think I was smarter than I made out (which I was) and start hiding the fellowship's secrets more carefully. I started talking to Boramir, when to my horror, Pippin started skipping rocks across the surface of the muck.

"Oi! I've already beat Frodo's record of five skips! I just got eight! Eight whole skips! That's probably the best in all of Middle Earth! Just imagine the faces of..." he announced.

I didn't let him finish his sentence. I tackled him to the ground before he could throw another stone.

"Oof! Wot was that for?!" he cried loudly. I sighed. He couldn't have known. But what worried me most was not the watcher. Nudge said they got away just fine. What worried me was how easily the story fixed itself. Which might mean...the story might kill us off so the plot wasn't changed. I couldn't let that happen. I had to protect my Flock, even if it meant abandoning the quest.

Of course, the voice had something to say about that thought...

 ** _Maximum, Maximum, Maximum... Don't you understand? If the quest fails, you will not be able to get home... And... if the quest fails, because it WILL fail without you, your flock will be killed or enslaved by the orcs, just like the rest of Middle Earth. You are part of the fellowship Max, whether you like it or not._**

 _Geez, a little harsh aren't you?_

 ** _Maximum Ride! You need to listen to me! There are three times the number of enemies in the book and movie, all of them after the fellowship right now! You will meet unstoppable forces in the Mines of Moria, and you will face challenges beyond anything you have ever faced before!_**

 _Can you at least answer me one thing?! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me the triple thing does not apply to the Balrog?!_

 ** _No, it does not. There can be only one Balrog in Moria, as there can only be one Sauron, and nine Ringwraiths. But Maximum, do not let your guard down at any time._**

 _Yeeees Sir!_ I thought sarcastically, and the voice was silent. I wondered why the Watcher wasn't coming up out of the water yet. Pippin had thrown the rocks in...What was going on?

After a minute of staring intently at the water and receiving some annoyed looks from Pippin, I gave up. Maybe the Watcher had decided to take a coffee break. Who knew...

I turned back to the fellowship. Gandalf was still speaking all the pass codes he could think of. I knew the answer, but I didn't want to have to ask Gandalf for it. I knew it was friend in Elvish... But what was the word for friend again?

 **Gandalf:**

The girl worried Gandalf very much. He had never seen a woman with as much ferocity as Eowen, that was, until he met the strange Maximum Ride character. She was a mystery, wrapped in a mystery, to say the least. Gandalf scowled, and threw down his staff. For the life of him, he could not think of any more opening words. He had tried every last trick in the book. Not that there was a book of opening words... But he had a knack for memorizing things. He was sure that he had used every possible combination. Wait... Perhaps the word was Mithril...

First he tried in the common tongue, then in Elvish. The door did not budge. What if the word was Mithril, but in Dwarvish? No, that couldn't be, because the dwarves never revealed that word to a soul, so how could anyone but a dwarf ever possibly enter the mines? Gandalf knew they could enter from the east, because that was the path he had taken.

Gandalf's keen ears then heard Maximum muttering under her breath, her voice gradually getting louder with frustration, "stra...rry...a...le...pe..ch...ummm..no..lemon..."

Had the girl gone mad?! Why in Varda was she muttering about fruit?!

"no...canteloupe...no...watermelon...watermelon...watermelon...something about watermelons...yeah...melons...melons...um...what about melons..."

Then it hit him. Of course! How could he be such a fool?! The writing on the door, "Speak friend and enter, should have said, SAY friend and enter. For the entry word was friend! And in elvish, friend was Mellon!

"Of course!" he cried in glee. The fellowship looked at him strangely, as he called out, "Mellon!"

"I knew it had something to do with melons! Watermelllooonn! Hey Nudge, remember that Vine?"

"Yeah! Watermelloonnn!" Nudge cried, a bit too loudly. Gandalf had no earthly idea what they were yelling about. He had a feeling that the 'vine' they were referring to was not the type of vine he was thinking of. He had also never heard watermelon pronounced watermellon! And he certainly hadn't heard someone get so excited about the fruit. Well... maybe the one time he had brought the exotic fruit to the hobbits. Yes, that was a scene that would forever be imprinted in the wizard's mind.


	7. The Watcher Doesn't Like Watermelons

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 **Frodo:**

The very instant Gandalf spoke the elvish word 'mellon' the door slid open without a sound. Max was exclaiming something about watermelons to the black skinned one called Nudge, when suddenly, the younger girl screeched, "Watermelloooonnn!" The shout echoed across the murky lake and reverberated against the stone cliff face. Frodo winced. Now every enemy within two leagues knew exactly where they were.

"Oops..." the girl muttered, looking embarrassedly at the ground. Boramir turned on her angrily.

 **"** Lady Nudge, know this much, here, your fellow dark skins are servants of Sauron. If I am given any reason to distrust you..." Boramir hissed, drawing his finger across his bare neck in an unmistakable gesture.

Max's eyes widened, and she was about to hit Boramir, but Gazzy was there faster.

"How dare you!" the young boy screamed, tackling the man from Gondor who let out a surprised "Gah!" They fell to the ground in a heap, and Gandalf sighed, easily lifting the angry Gazzy off of Boramir, who was cursing and rubbing his elbow which had hit a rock.

"Hush, everyone, we need not alert more enemies than we have to," murmured Gandalf, and without further comments, the fellowship silently filed into the Mines of Moria.

 **Max:**

Everyone was quiet after Gandalf said that, and without a word, Gandalf led the way into the Mines of Moria. Aragorn was behind Frodo, taking the rear. I silently counted in my head. 3...2...1...

"AHHH!" the hobbit screamed, and I whirled around, already knowing what I would find.

"HELP! ARAGORN!" Frodo screamed, a big slimy tentacle wrapped tightly around his ankle. He was being dragged along the ground, Merry, Pippin and Sam all trying to pull him away from the octopus thing's grasp. Aragorn took a sharp intake of air, and raced after the group of hobbits that was no match for the strength of that single tentacle. Frodo would have been long gone if they hadn't have leapt on the tentacle, bashing it with rocks, and anything else they could find.

"Use your weapons!" cried Aragorn, knowing he would never make it to them in time. They were almost to the water's edge, when Pippin finally managed to draw his knife in the chaos. With a loud cry, he hacked the blade into the tentacle, and a howl echoed from the beast deep in the depths. The badly injured appendage retreated, slipping back into the dark sludge with a quiet _floop._

"That was a bit too close, Mister Frodo," said Sam, helping the shocked Frodo to his feet. They started walking back to the group, when Aragorn gave a cry of warning, just as dozens of tentacles rose from the water and struck at the ground. Legolas fired an arrow at a tentacle just before it reached the group of hobbits, and it recoiled as the projectile stuck in its gelatinous limb. But the arrow hardly had hurt the creature, just infuriated it further. It was time to show this thing the meaning of hurt! I drew my daggers, and yelled in anger with the rest of the fellowship, and together, we charged the Watcher. There would be no shredded hobbits today!

The beast's grotesque head emerged from the lake of sludge, needle sharp teeth gnashing furiously. It roared, or what I assumed was a roar. It sounded more like Gazzy's stomach when he had missed breakfast though.

Aragorn hacked and sliced through the tentacles like they were soft butter, but more and more came lunging out of the water. The hobbits were back to back, slicing at the tentacles coming at them from all directions. Good hobbits! At least the halflings had some sense, even if they were awful fighters.

Gazzy started whacking tentacles with his hammer, but it was doing nothing but rebound off the monster's soft flesh.

Legolas huffed, annoyed that he was having to resort to his daggers,, and leapt nimbly onto a tentacle, racing along it, and slicing it almost to the stump. The creature realized he was very dangerous, so ten tentacles came racing along just for him. Legolas was having a heck of a job, avoiding all those tentacles without falling into the water. He quickly gave up that method, leaping back to dry ground, and slicing at any tentacle that came near the hobbits with Gimli, Boromir

Nudge and Fang were doing their best to slice the creature's limbs completely off with Aragorn and the wizard, but they just didn't come close to his speed, power, and uncanny accuracy. I had seen part of a movie trailer for Lord of the Rings, and the fighting in that didn't even come close to Aragorn's actual skill with a sword. But Fang was pretty good too! *wink-wink*

Angel immediately gave up with using her spear, and started trying mind-control the creature. So far, it didn't seem to be working though.

I fastened my dagger hilts to my hand, so as not to lose them in the muck, and charged the creature. I had a plan... I figured, that water was almost solid already, being the sludge that it was, and I can go really fast, and I'm really light so...

Yep... I could run on water...sludge...whatever... I grabbed one of the monster's tentacles, and used it to propel myself onto the monster's head. It screamed in rage, and thrashed madly. I clung to the beast, using my right hand to repeatedly stab it in its eyes. It was so freaked that it stopped attacking everyone else, and flailed uselessly. A few tentacles brushed up against me, but I slashed at them and they retreated. I was defeating the Watcher!

And then the creature managed to get a grip on me. With a howl of triumph, it dove into the inky depths, dragging me along with it. And unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to breathe in this nasty water.


	8. Drowning in Sewage

Sorry this chapter is short. lol. Thanks for following this story my loyal readers! Also, thanks for your review Kelphead2, and

 **Max:** THANKS?! YOU ARE GOING TO THANK HIM FOR POINTING OUT WHAT A HORRIBLE SITUATION I AM IN?!

 **Minerakf:** Max, calm down, seriously, just chillax.

 **Max:** CHILLAX?! HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO CHILLAX WHEN IM DYING! AGH!

 **Minerakf:** Fine, I'll save you. Give me a second. *types furiously*

 **Max:** *reads* HEY! I CAN PERFECTLY WELL SAVE MYSELF!

 **Fang:** *reads* Oh, so I get to be the knight in shining armor this chapter huh? *wiggles eyebrows dramatically at Max*

 **Max:** AGH! FANG I SWEAR! *Tackles Fang who is laughing maniacally*

 **Max:**

The tentacle was wrapped tightly around my waist. The sludge was freezing cold, and already I wanted to draw a breath. I struggled feebly against the slimy appendage, but it had my arms pinned against my sides, and try as I might, I couldn't escape its grasp.

It gurgled loudly, and tightened its grip on me. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. Was I seriously going to die in this hole full of sewage?! Agh! My knives were still attached to my hands, but I couldn't use them... How could I escape this?! No! I felt the monster taking its time to pull me towards its horrific mouth. Any second now, its wickedly sharp teeth would pierce into me, and in no time at all, I would be a pile of bird-kid bones in the bottom of the pond.

And what if my death meant the fellowship failed? What if they got killed?! All because of my arrogance and stupidity. How could I possibly take on the Watcher alone?! They barely escaped the thing in the book! And the book hadn't even come close to describing how awful this thing was. My flock! My heart nearly came up my throat when I thoughr of Nudge, Fang, Angel... Gazzy and Iggy... being...No! NO! I would not let this happen! Agh! I needed to breathe! Air! Air! Need Air! Now!

Just as I opened my mouth and sucked in a breath of foul slime, teeth pierced my left tennis shoe, just barely grazing my toes. And a millisecond later, with muck filling my lungs, and my consciousness leaving me, I sensed the tentacle go stiff, and then loosen. My limp body sank helplessly to the depths, and I slipped into unconsciousness.

 **Fang:**

No! This was not happening! Not today! I howled in anger, and without hesitating for a second, I dove into the pool of sludge. The cold hit me like a shock wave, and I almost gasped. That would have been bad... I held my breath and forced my way through the slimy darkness. I swam deeper and deeper, my breath running out quickly. Then, off to my left, the water stirred, and I heard the monster gurgle. Suddenly, a tentacle had a hold of my foot. It pulled me toward the beast with unbelievable force. Then my shoes connected with a slimy head, and a few teeth managed to pierce my shoes and stab into my heels. OW! I let out air bubble as I gurgled in rage, swinging my sword as fast as the goop allowed. It connected with the creature, biting deep into its brain. It stiffened, and then relaxed.

Where was Max?! I had to get to Max before she sank to the bottom! She had to be unconscious by now, because I was already desperate for oxygen. Air! Need Air! Agh! I fought the desire to breathe, and forced my way lower. My head was throbbing and I was losing consciousness when my hand finally brushed fabric. Yes!

I grabbed a hold of Max's arms, and struggled upward. I wasn't even sure I could make it. By some miracle of god, I made it to the surface, bursting up onto the shore. I was glad I got to see the shocked expressions of the fellowship before I passed out, because they looked absolutely mind boggled that I had managed to save Max. Ha! Like I would ever leave Max to die!


	9. Into the Mines

Thanks for following and favoriting, ShadowGuardia507 and thanks for favoriting and giving me a good nudge, SkyeShah! Make sure to leave a review, and enjoy! :D Oh, and SOOO SORRY FOR SPELLING BOROMIR, BORAMIR! What is wrong with me?! :o

 **Legolas:**

Legolas watched in horror as the fierce girl stabbed the beast repeatedly in its eyes. Tentacles lashed about, splashing the foul water everywhere. Legolas noticed a stray tentacle inching its way toward the girl's back. He rushed forward, crying out a warning, but the beast snatched her up. The slimy appendage pinned her arms to her sides.

The creature gave a roar of triumph, and slipped back into the depths, taking a struggling Max with it.

Everyone stared at the water as it calmed, not quite accepting what had just happened. Then the dark haired boy who called himself Fang gave a howl of anger, and before anyone could stop him, he dove into the pool.

Aragorn gave a shout, and rushed to the water's edge, but the boy was already too far under to see. As far as they were concerned, they had just lost two of the fellowship... And they were only children! Legolas stared at the ground, thinking about how the girl had taken down Boromir so easily. He winced and rubbed the big bruise she had given him when she had pretended to fall unconscious, and then leapt up and kicked him. In the head, and hard... He had been shocked...He, an elf prince, defeated by a mere human child, and a female at that! But she had used tactics that were unknown to him. She could have been a major advantage against the forces of Mordor. He had no doubt she could cut through ranks of orcs with ease. But now she was gone...

"Into the mines," Gandalf said, and turned away from the water with a sad sigh. There was no way they could still be alive. The boy had dove into the pool, only to die along with his friend. Legolas turned away from the water, sadly following the wizard toward the open stone door. Then, he heard a loud splash, and he whirled back, staring in awe at the sight that met his eyes.

For bursting out of the filth was the boy. He grunted, using the last of his strength the propel himself, and an unconscious Max onto the shore. He gasped for air, looking up at the shocked group with a lopsided grin. Then he fell face first into the mud, and the other children raised a cheer, rushing forward to help their friends.

The blind one, Iggy, raced over to the girl, and immediately picked her up. He then proceeded to roughly tighten his grip on her several times. This resulted in the muck spewing from her lungs, and her eyes flying open. She coughed and gagged, but she was alive.

They had propped Fang against a rock, and Legolas noticed that his sword was covered in the monster's blood. Had he killed it? Amazing...These children truly were not to be underestimated.

 **Max:**

I stumbled upright, taking the extra clothes I had packed in my pack. I selected the driest ones, and trudged off behind a boulder to change out of the filthy wet ones I was currently wearing. Fang did the same, as soon as Gazzy and Iggy shook him awake of course.

Legolas was holding up the blade that Fang had used to stab the monster, peering at it intently.

"This blade is covered with the beast's blood. Is it dead?" he said quietly, glancing back at the water as if the monster was going to go for him next.

Fang paused, "I think...I'm not sure. I felt it relax, so I'm going to assume it died... I doubt it would just let us go, unless it was dead..."

"That is a relief..." Legolas breathed.

Then, I thought of something. What was going to force us into the mines, now the Watcher was dead? Maybe the entrance would...collapse on its own? No, that would be way to coincidental...

"Let us go now...We have no time to waste. Our foes move swiftly, but we must go faster," Legolas said, and Gandalf nodded, "Indeed. Let us not tarry, and be off at once,"

"Geez...Give this guy a chance to rest!" complained Fang, but he stood anyways, and we trudged into the dark mines.

Gimli, now in good spirits after Fang miraculously rescued me from the Watcher, rumbled happily to Legolas, "Soon Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves!"

Unfortunately for me, I couldn't hold in a loud snort when I heard that. Gimli turned, looking at me in the dark, and said, "What is funny about that?"

"Oh, nothing," I said, paling considerably.

I knew what we were going to see as soon as Gandalf lit his staff. Lots of dead goblins and dwarves, according to Nudge. I wanted to make Angel close her eyes, but she would see it through our eyes anyways. So I nudged Nudge (hahaha) and whispered, "Shut your eyes, Nudge. "

Light flickered from the crystal in Gandalf's staff, and as Gimli rumbled on, " Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!", everyone else looked around in horror at what they were seeing.

"And to think! They call this a mine! A MINE!" cried Gimli in anguish. Then Boromir whispered in shock and disgust, "This is no mine...it's a tomb."

Gimli stopped rambling, and finally looked around him. His mouth opened as he took in the blood stains on the walls, the cobwebs everywhere, the skulls grinning eerily from the floor. "No... No!" cried Gimli in horror.

Legolas yanked an arrow from a dead body, and proclaimed loudly, "Goblins." Almost as if on cue, the floor rumbled with the sounds of huge drums. BOOM! BA-BA-BA-BOOM!

"What is that?" squeaked Pippin, and Aragorn cried, "Drums! Get out! Get out!"

"Make for the Gap of Rohan!" cried Gandalf and Boromir simultaneously, and we scrambled to exit out the small door.

Suddenly, tentacles were everywhere, one whacking me in the face with a loud slap. Water and slime dripped into my eyes, and I rubbed the gunk off on my hand, gripping my daggers. But there was no need to do this, because the whole thing was out of the water, and it was even more massive that I previously thought.

"INTO THE MINES!" bellowed Gandalf, and everyone ran straight back into the mines, slashing at tentacles that followed them as they went.

The hobbits yelped, and dove through the door, followed by Aragorn and Boromir. They made it just in time too, because the Watcher gripped the cliff face and tore the entire stone door straight off. The wall seemed to explode into shards of deadly shrapnel, and the entrance collapsed in a avalanche of rock. The last rock fell into place, cutting out the last ray of light. There was no way out now... We would have to go through the mines, just like Nudge said.

"Only one option now..." I muttered grumpily.

"We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. _There_ are older and fouler _things than Orcs_ in the deep places of the world," Gandalf instructed, lighting his staff.

"You think?" I grumbled, groaning, and coughing up rock dust.

After a short ways of walking down a small tunnel, the passage opened up, and we were looking down into the shadows of a deep chasm. There was a winding path of rough stone that cut across this place, and veins of glowing mithril could be seen, like little lights in the dark, reflecting the light from Gandalf's staff.

"Mithril..." Legolas breathed,"

"It is a three day journey to the other side. Let us hope our presence goes unnoticed."

I snorted again, "Great going Gandalf. You've just jinxed us."

"Jinxed you?" Gandalf asked confusedly.

"Um... Jinxing something means that that the very something you DON'T want to happen, happens because you said out loud, 'I hope so and so doesn't happen' Wait.. Did I say that right Max?" babbled Nudge.

"Yeah... I think..." I mumbled. I hadn't really been listening. I was stuck in a world of fear. The dark pressed in from all sides. At least we were in an open space right now, but in a minute, we'd be back in the cramped tunnels, where there was no escape, no flight. Trapped, we were trapped in a giant cage...

I shivered, and we pressed on. Then, Gandalf came to three tunnels, and paused. Gimli bumped into Fang, who mumbled, "Watch it, dwarf,"

Gimli grunted back, "I could say the same about your rude comments, boy."


	10. Imitations and Nightmares

YAY! NEW UPDATE! ACTUALLY GOT MOTIVATED u

 **Max:**

I shivered, and we pressed on. Then, Gandalf came to three tunnels, and paused. Gimli bumped into Fang, who mumbled, "Watch it, dwarf,"

Gimli grunted back, "I could say the same about your rude comments, boy."

"Oh yeah? Bite me." Fang taunted the dwarf, very un-Fang-like, making me instantly suspicious.

Gimli's eyes narrowed and his hand roamed closer to the handle of his double-bladed axe, "You insolent child!"

When Fang turned his piercing glare to Gazzy, I knew exactly what was going on.

"Gazzy..." I threatened.

"What?" Gazzy asked innocently with wide blue eyes reflecting the torchlight.

"You know what I'm talking about..." I rolled my eyes in irritation.

"I cannot understand what the young mister did wrong. However, Mister Fang seems to be provoking Gimli." Sam said and I snorted, "No, that would be Gazzy being an idiot."

"Idiot?" Legolas asked, always interested in different usages of language.

"Fool. Pip knows what that means," I said with a knowing smirk and Pippin glared at me.

"How is Gazzy being foolish Lady Maximum?" Aragorn asked from where he was laying out his bedroll and I wondered why he was using my full name.

"Max. No Lady. No Maximum. Just Max. And Gazzy had been able to imitate people since he was born."

"I apologize for my behavior toward master Fang," Gimli said from behind me and I turned around with raised eyebrows. The dwarf had actually apologized? This was a truly a day of firsts...

"But, young master Gazzy had better watch his back from now on..." Gimli grunted and putting his hands behind his head, the dwarf leaned against the stone wall and promptly fell asleep. Within seconds he was snoring right alongside Fang. I didn't even seeing Fang close his eyes!

"It bewilders me how quickly they fall asleep..." Legolas said, shaking his head in amazement.

"You got that right buddy," Nudge snorted, "Totally not fair..."

"Buddy?" Legolas prompted and I grunted, "Friend."

"Ah...I see..."

A few minutes passed in silence, and I heard a few snippets of Gandalf's conversation with Frodo. Suddenly Legolas said, "I was wondering...can Gazzy imitate each of you?"

"Yes, he can," Gazzy said in my voice, and Legolas turned his head toward Gazzy.

"Incredible...I would not have believe it if I was not hearing it with my own ears."

"Young master Gazzy is capable of more than just imitating people he knows well..." Gandalf voice said loudly, and Legolas and Frodo stared at the wizard, who was staring in shock down at us.

"Was that...Gazzy?" Frodo asked in shock, and Gazzy grinned and let out a burp. Every member of the fellowship other than Gimli, who was slumped on the floor and snoring like a freight train, gaped at Gazzy. The Gasman was loving being in the spotlight, and wasn't going to let it leave him for one second.

"And now Legolas says," Gazzy said in his own voice and then switched it to sound like the elvish prince, "Wow Gazzy, that's so cool! Can you do my voice?!"

Gazzy switched back to his voice and acted all flattered while Legolas' mouth opened ever so slightly and then shut again, "Why, thank you, and yes, yes I can do your voice,"

"Gazzy...you're bothering them..." I glared pointedly at the blond-haired bird-kid who crossed his arms and pouted.

"Wait, I just had a really cool idea!" Nudge said out of the silence, and I braced myself for the coming barrage.

"So, like, you know how we're all cut off from music and whatever, and like, we won't ever hear it again, and," Nudge babbled so fast that I was pretty sure the fellowship couldn't understand her, but just in case, I hissed, "Nudge, zip it!"

"I know Max, I know. So, anyways, I was thinking, wouldn't it be so cool if Gazzy could imitate and sing at the same time? Like sing pop music and we could all party? That would be so cool!"

"Excuse me?" Gazzy interrupted, "I am NOT going to be your personal radio Nudge."

"Aww...But you could sing that one song that Max says is bad...um...Fireball! Yeah, you could sing Fireball!"

Gazzy's eyes lit up and I put down the foot, "In your dreams Gazzy..."

"Aww... You're no fun Max..." Gazzy complained, and I threw him the bread I had been devouring. We seriously needed more calories than what we were getting right now. I was constantly hungry anymore...

Gazzy stuffed it all in his mouth at once with a muffled "Thanks!" and I rolled my eyes.

"Aha!" Gandalf suddenly exclaimed, and Merry cried, "He remembered!"

"No. But the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose!"

I snorted, "If that were true, we would have left Gazzy behind ages ago..."

"HEY!" Gazzy protested, "I can't help that my digestive system doesn't like me!"

I prodded Fang, "Get up lazy bum, Gandalf's found the way."

Fang pulled himself upright and smirked almost flirtatiously, "Is that any way to treat me after I saved your sorry butt?"

"Get a life loser," I said, rolling my eyes at this hopeless case.

We continued in the dim light for ages. Nudge was about to drive me crazy humming Shake it Off when we finally called quits for that night...Or day...Who knew in this dark dank hole...My nerves were on edge, and I longed to stretch my wings. I kept thinking about how the darkness pressed close like the bars of a cage. While the fellowship slept, we revisited some of our worst memories: hands reaching for us to inject us with some new mystery drug; being zapped until we passed out; running for hours on that hated treadmill; sizzling coils of wire burning our feet as we dashed around corners in a endless labyrinth of suffering; whitecoats cutting into our sensitive skin with terrible glinting scalpels while we screamed in agony; the glare of the hospital lighting and the sharp tang of antiseptic. This place was like living in a nightmare...

And we had two more days before we were back outside...


	11. Clouded Vision

Just a small comment before we begin: the fellowship will not find out about the flock's wings until a long time from now. Just hold tight and enjoy!

 **Legolas:**

Legolas could not possibly relax in these dark tunnels that Gimli was so proud of. He quietly sat down with his legs crossed and coaxed the torch embers into a small flame. His blue eyes followed the path of flickering torchlight onto the children sleeping together away from the rest of the Fellowship. He wondered what on earth had made Lord Elrond think that it would be a good idea to bring children on the quest. Did he not understand that they were very likely not to return from this? Their quest was most likely doomed to fail, and even if they succeeded, the destruction of a Ring of Power would cover the land of Mordor in fire and ash.

He studied their forms as they slept. He noticed that none of them slept on their backs, even though sleeping on their sides must be quite uncomfortable on the unyielding stone. It was hard to tell one bedrolls from another, the blankets were such a jumbled mess about them. He smiled ever so slightly, thinking of baby birds cuddled in a nest, for that was what the children resembled. He shook his head, wondering how they could ever sleep in such terrible positions. The smallest one, Angel, was back to back with Lady Maximum. Her golden curls were bunched up against the young woman's strange attire and her tiny hands were tightly clutching a dirty white thing that appeared to be a stuffed creature of sorts wearing a ragged doll dress. Above the creature's snout and polished black eyes was a bent stick of metal holding up a drooping golden ring of fabric. What were most curious were the limp golden wings sewn to the back of the creature's filthy dress. The little black creature that resembled a hound and possessed the ability to talk was curled up contentedly on the little child's shoes.

The blind young man named Iggy was no longer on his side, having now rolled onto his stomach. Gazzy was snoring to rival Gimli, his figure sprawled across Iggy's legs and the black skinned girl's head was resting on Iggy's shoulder. The dark haired Fang, who seemed to wear a permanent grimace, was situated away from the others with both of his blankets several feet away from him. He must have kicked them away as some point in the night.

Suddenly the blind one, Iggy, gasped in pain and his blue-white eyes flew open. He jerked and twisted away from Gazzy and Nudge. Nudge's head hit the stone floor as Iggy's shoulder slipped out from it and she cried out in shock, waking the rest of the fellowship. Gazzy groaned and mumbled something about a coat, then rolled off of Iggy's thrashing legs and slept on. Max had jumped to her feet, her eyes wild and panicked.

"What? Where?" she cried, searching for the danger in the dim light.

Her eyes locked on Iggy, still thrashing madly and gasping in steadily increasing volume. Legolas rushed for the boy at the same time as Aragorn, but Max beat them there. In an instant, she had woken the boy and was massaging his shoulders soothingly.

"Was it your eyes again?" she asked, and Legolas wondered if the boy had dreamed about the day he was blinded. But the boy's eyes were undamaged other than the whitish film over them, so Legolas had assumed he had been born unable to see. Iggy nodded, a tear leaking from the corner of his right eye.

Gazzy rolled over in his sleep, getting his arms and legs even more tangled in the blankets. Then the boy jerked violently, attempting to free himself from the blankets and screamed, "Let go of me!" His eyes flew open and he gulped dramatically.

"Oh," he said, surveying the scene before him in the low lighting, "Did I miss something?"

"Iggy woke everyone up screaming,"

"Oh, actually," Nudge said, rubbing the side of her head, "That was me."

"So you admit that you tried to alert the enemy of our presence..." Boromir said nastily. Legolas felt anger bubble up from deep within him, and he fought hard to repress it. That man was unbearable. It was clear he was ensnared by the Ring from the moment he set foot in the council. He should have never been allowed to come on the quest. Yes, everyone knew that the dark skins served Lord Sauron the last time, but who has the right to judge an innocent girl based on the color of her skin?

Nudge's mouth fell open and she started sputtering an apology. " I'm sorry! It was an accident! I'm on your side!"

"Hmph..." Boromir grunted, and then narrowed his eyes, "How exactly does one 'accidentally' scream in the middle of the night? Is the dark giving you nightmares?"

Boromir laughed cruelly, and Legolas realized just how far gone he was. The Ring had a firm hold on his mind and soul, and soon Boromir would abandon all reason and attempt to steal the Ring. He saw this all clearly in his innermost mind, almost like a vision. He also saw Lady Maximum's fists clench and he threw himself in between the young woman and Boromir before she killed the Steward's son.

"Peace, mellon nin," he said, holding his hands up and pleading with his eyes for the woman to see reason. This was the last thing they needed, to fight amongst themselves.

For a moment, Boromir seemed to come out of the trance and he softened his voice," You must understand, times are hard and it is not typical that a young maiden such as yourself participate in such endeavors as ours. Forgive my rude behavior."

"Now, since all the apologies are through, shall we be off?" Gandalf interrupted, lighting the crystal on his staff and illuminating the fellowship's faces.

Max huffed turned away, muttering curses under her breath, Even with his good elvish hearing he knew that Boromir heard what she said, and he was proved right when the man from Gondor's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint. In that instant, Legolas felt like he could practically SEE the Ring's veil clouding the man's vision once again.

They folded up their bedrolls and started off again, Max and Boromir glaring daggers at each other and Nudge looking slightly irritated that Max was fighting for her.

Out of the tense silence Boromir suddenly growled, "Mark my words, bad or good intentions, these children be the doom of us all. Children don't belong on importa...

"Boromir..." Gandalf warned him sternly, and Legolas tensed, preparing to fight the man should he attempt to take the Ring. That was how close the man was to madness. Legolas was tempted, if only for a moment, to "accidently" knock the man off the path and that would be the end of it. But the thought passed, he knew that the real Boromir would not act in this way. The man had become twisted by the Ring's malice.

Legolas' blood boiled when the Steward's son just ignored the wizard's warning and continued as if nothing had happened, "...nt quests. How can you possibly be so blind?! These children, they manage to penetrate the borders of Rivendell unseen, wearing strange attire and talking of strange things. Then, they somehow climb to the ground two floors below without a single foothold, find a hidden council meeting, burst in uninvited and that addlebrained elf has the nerve to send them on the quest without asking them a single question!"

There was shocked silence and then Gazzy went, "OOOOOOOOOOOH!"


End file.
